different between philomath vs polymath

English

Etymology

First indubitably attested ante 1643 (perhaps antedated to 1611); from the Ancient Greek ????????? (philomath?s, “fond of learning”), from ????? (phílos, “loving”) + ???? (máth?, “learning”), from ??????? (manthán?, “learn”); compare opsimath, philomathematic, and polymath.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?l?mæ?/

Noun

philomath (plural philomaths)

1. (archaic) A lover of learning; a scholar.
   • 1824, Rev. Philip Skelton, The Complete Works of the Late Rev. Philip Skelton, Rector of Fintona, page 27:

     For this (in my humble opinion, not very important purpose, and fitter to employ the talent of a philomath than a Newton) he and Leibnitz, much about the same, struck out a fluxional method, which they both took for a demonstration.

   • 1896, John Bach McMaster, Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, page 108:

     Jerman for twenty years past had been the author of a Quaker almanac, and had for about the same time been engaged in a fierce almanac warfare with Jacob Taylor, a philomath and a printer of Friends’ books.

2. An astrologer or predictor.
   • 2007, Thomas Fleming, Benjamin Franklin: Inventing America, Sterling Point Books, age 33

     "The success of an almanac depended upon the appeal of the "philomath"-the resident astrologer who did the writing and predicting."

English

Alternative forms

• polumathe, polymathe [both 17th century]

Etymology

First attested in 1624; from the Ancient Greek ????????? (polumath?s, “having learnt much”), from ????? (polús, “much”) + ???? (máth?) (math?, “learning”; from ??????? (manthán?), manthan? “I learn”); compare opsimath, philomath, polyhistor, polymathic, polymathist, and polymathy, as well as the French polymathe.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?l?mæ?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?li?mæ?/, /?p?l?mæ?/

Noun

polymath (plural polymaths)

1. A person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge.
   • 1624, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (2^nd edn.), p.6:

     To be thought and held Polumathes and Polihistors.

Synonyms

• polyhistor
• renaissance man

Antonyms

• monomath

Coordinate terms

• factotum, handyman, jack of all trades, sciolist

Related terms

• automath
• polymathy
• polymathic
• polymathist

Translations

References

• “polymath, n. (a.)” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd ed., 1989]
• “polymath, n. and adj.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [3rd ed., September 2006]